Ambergris Cays

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Ambergris Cays
ISS astronaut photo of the Ambergris Cays
ISS astronaut photo of the Ambergris Cays
Waters Atlantic Ocean
archipelago Caicos Islands
Geographical location 21 ° 18 ′  N , 71 ° 39 ′  W Coordinates: 21 ° 18 ′  N , 71 ° 39 ′  W
Ambergris Cays (Turks and Caicos Islands)
Ambergris Cays
Number of islands 2
Main island Big Ambergris Cay
Total land area 10.87 km²

The Ambergris Cays are a small group of islands in the extreme southeast of the chain of Caicos Islands . They are located in the Atlantic Ocean about 20 kilometers southwest of South Caicos and belong to the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands .

The group consists of the main island Big Ambergris Cay with an area of ​​4.28 km² and its western neighbor island Little Ambergris Cay with 6.59 km², two flat sand islands. While Little Ambergris Cay is heavily silted up, swampy and therefore uninhabitable, a large holiday resort with a marina and a 1700 meter long runway for small planes was built on the island of Big Ambergris Cay, two kilometers to the east .

The islands take their name from ambergris (English for ' ambergris '), a waste product of sperm whales that was previously used for perfume production and washed up there in large quantities.

literature

  • HE Sadler, Marjorie Sadler, Karen Collins: Turks Islands Landfall. A History of the Turks & Caicos Islands . Marjorie E. Sadler, Grand Turk - Turks and Caicos Islands 1997, ISBN 976-8138-62-9 .

Web links

  • Ambergris Cays. In: visittci.com. Visit Turks and Caicos Islands Limited.;

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MBAC - Ambergris Cay International Airport. Airport data. In: AirNav.com. Retrieved December 3, 2018 .